CardioExchange Archive

August 7th, 2012

NY Times: HCA Concealed Significant Problems at Lucrative Cardiac Centers

Larry Husten, PHD

Despite numerous internal reviews that turned up a widespread pattern of unnecessary cardiology procedures being performed at many of its hospitals, the giant HCA corporation did little to rein in the problem or to inform regulators, payers, or patients about it, according to an investigative report in the New York Times by Reed Abelson and Julie Creswell. […]

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August 2nd, 2012

DES in Patients at Low Risk for TVR: Is the Benefit Worth the Cost? (Part III)

John Spertus, MD, MPH, Robert W. Yeh, MD MSc MBA, Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD

In a recent article in Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers performed an analysis of current use of drug-eluting stents (DES) in patients at various levels of risk for target-vessel revascularization (TVR), and estimated the cost and clinical outcomes of using BMS rather than DES in patients at low risk (see News). To gauge reaction to […]

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July 27th, 2012

DES in Patients at Low Risk for TVR: Is the Benefit Worth the Cost? (Part II)

Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA, L. David Hillis, MD and Patrick Serruys, MD, PhD

In a recent article in Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers performed an analysis of current use of drug-eluting stents (DES) in patients at various levels of risk for target-vessel revascularization (TVR), and estimated the cost and clinical outcomes of using BMS rather than DES in patients at low risk (see News). To gauge reaction to […]

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July 25th, 2012

DES in Patients at Low Risk for TVR: Is the Benefit Worth the Cost? (Part I)

Gregg W Stone, MD, John A. Bittl, M.D., David Kandzari, MD, Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD

In a recent article in Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers performed an analysis of current use of drug-eluting stents (DES) in patients at various levels of risk for target-vessel revascularization (TVR), and estimated the cost and clinical outcomes of using BMS rather than DES in patients at low risk (see News). To gauge reaction to […]

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July 10th, 2012

Drug-Eluting Stents Often Used in Patients at Low Risk for Restenosis

Larry Husten, PHD

The chief advantage of drug-eluting stents (DES) over bare-metal stents is that they significantly reduce the risk for restenosis. The chief disadvantages of DES are their greater cost and the requirement for prolonged dual antiplatelet therapy after implantation. In a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine,  Amit Amin and colleagues analyzed data from 1.5 million […]

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April 24th, 2012

Primary PCI Meta-Analysis: Mortality Trumps All

Chohreh Partovian, MD, PhD

In a new meta-analysis Dr. Gregg Stone and members of the Drug-Eluting Stent in Primary Angioplasty (DESERT) Cooperation concluded that reduction in target-vessel revascularization (TVR) associated with drug-eluting stents (DES) in primary PCI provided a powerful reason for continued use of DES in primary PCI. An accompanying editorial by James Brophy focused on several potential DES weaknesses in the study. […]

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April 24th, 2012

Meta-Analysis Compares Drug-Eluting and Bare-Metal Stents for Primary Angioplasty

Larry Husten, PHD

A new meta-analysis comparing drug-eluting stents (DES) and bare-metal stents (BMS) in patients with MI has provoked opposing take-away messages from the study authors and an editorialist. The authors emphasize the reduction in target-vessel revascularization (TVR) associated with DES, but the editorialist focuses on several potential DES weaknesses suggested by the study. In the paper, published in […]

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April 18th, 2012

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: Week of April 16th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include an “awful question” about statin therapy, coronary computed tomographic angiography in the ED, vorapraxar for secondary prevention, and stent wars.

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April 17th, 2012

Why Make A Stent Out of Cornstarch?

Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD

Biodegradable stents: here to stay… or will they disappear? A newly-released study reports the long-term results of the first-in-man fully biodegradable coronary stent.

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March 28th, 2012

A Great Take-Away Message

Jeremiah Depta, MD

A Fellow leaves ACC with a lifelong lesson from Dr. Antonio Colombo: Never accept a bad outcome as a stroke of bad luck, and the outliers (i.e. bad outcomes) are the cases where we can learn the most.

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